The chants at Petco Park started the moment Manny Ramirez stepped into the on-deck circle for the first time in 57 days: Ma-nny! Ma-nny!
Petco Park, where only three years ago suspected drug cheat Barry Bonds had a syringe thrown in his direction.
Yet now there were grown men in the box seats along the first-base line wearing fake dreadlocks. They held up signs and pointed their cameras at the player with the loose-fitting uniform. Their hero was back, having served a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, caught with a prescription for HCG.
When his name was announced Friday over the public-address system, the capacity crowd erupted. A crescendo of boos soon was drowned out by the chants of Dodgers fans, chanting until nothing else mattered as baseball’s latest star linked to performance-enhancing drugs came to the plate.
It was a release of sorts on a day that began with Ramirez meeting with reporters — something he had not done since his banishment began on May 7.
Asked on Friday to detail his steroid use, Ramirez replied, “First I want to say that God is good and good is God. I don’t want to get into my medical records right now.”
Ramirez was 0-for-3 with a walk before the leaving the game in the sixth inning as the Dodgers beat the Padres 6-3.
More important, he received numerous standing ovations from fans who made the two-hour trek from Los Angeles and appeared to fill half of the stadium.
“Everywhere I go, man, people are there for me,” Ramirez said. “They give me their support. It hasn’t been that bad.
“Now, I got a challenge. I’ve got to go out there and show people I could still do it. I know could do it. So that’s good.
“That’s going to give me more fire to play the game.”
